Local Frames: This week's 5 must-see Minnesota music videos

As 2015 inches closer to the point where End of the Year lists are publishing and savvy bands have all but given up on releasing new music. But, in one of the greatest ironies of local alt media, the bands we deal with at Local Frames aren't out to impress blogs with timely releases — they're just grinding for their city.

This week's grinders come from various flavors and are led by a superlative garage-rock band who just dropped an album Friday. We also get a Scandinavian travelogue from Rogue Valley, a braggadocious single from a teenage hip-hop duo, and a moody cut from a band we just can't figure out. And then there's Andy Cook, who's always great, regardless of what the EOTY lists say.

Fury Things — "Bruised Fruit"

On Friday, City Pages clubs editor and sometimes 89.3 the Current contributor Erik Thompson called Fury Things the best rock band in the Twin Cities, and around these parts, his co-sign carries a lot of weight. His argument hinges on the Minneapolis band's latest single, "Bruised Fruit," which is off their newest release VHS. In the video, the low-fi apologists make good on Thompson's claims, thumping along through acres of feedback and flange. Hopefully you caught the fuzz-rock revivalists at the Triple Rock this weekend, they should be on stage supporting VHS sometime soon (read our recent interview with Fury Things here).

LNJAY — "We All That"

North Minneapolis cousins Latasia and Jasharee (together known as LNJAY) are due for a coming-out party, and "We All That" is the song to soundtrack that party. A single from 2014 EP LISTEN, "We All That" posits the young R&B duo as a pair of emcees with confidence that exceeds their age. The video follows LNJAY and their crew as they tour around Minneapolis flossing and celebrating their general flawlessness. The video comes care of Morningside Films, who've also worked with Atmosphere and Juicy J.

Rogue Valley — Iceland Airwaves 2015

Indie-folksters Rogue Valley were among many Americans who participated in the recent Icelandic music exchange Iceland Airwaves, and they challenged Evan Beaumont to capture the stunning sights of the volcanic countryside to go along some new sounds from their forthcoming album. The song title isn't mentioned, but it comes with the promise that the band will release a new records — the followup to their celebrated season-oriented series — in the coming year. If their jaunt to Iceland provided any inspiration, it should retain some of the wintery echo of False Floors. Rogue Valley aren't touring right now, but frontman Chris Koza (who made this trippy vid) will be at the Fineline on December 19.

SOLANA — "I Know, I Know"

SOLANA are an enigma. There isn't much out there on the Drake-sounding mood-makers, but the mysterious group has been releasing a sequence of video that reveal, at the very least, that they have chops good enough that the particulars aren't so important. True to that form, the video for "I Know, I Know" features the pair donning masks and silently traipsing a prismatic, nightclub-like world. Where can you see SOLANA next? When will they be releasing new music? Those are unanswerable questions. But for the meantime, you can enjoy the atmospheric trip they drop off via filmmaker Adam Jacobs below.

Andy Cook — "City of Fortune"

Andy Cook has only been playing guitar and writing songs for three years, but he's already one of the Twin Cities' rising stars. He recorded a six-song debut EP alongside Erik Koskinen, Jeremy Ylvisaker, Zachary Brose, and JT Bates that'll be out in March, so he dropped off the video for "City of Fortune," a countrified prison blues song that traces influences from Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. Cook's vision if Minneapolis — namely downtown — has a certain forlorn quality that plays nicely with the world-weary vocals he provides. Catch the steely singer-songwriter at Beaner's Central in Duluth on December 11.